I have a mac and I want to use audacity to record off the internet. I know there are programs like wiretap and whatnot, but is there anyway to use audacity? Example, if I want to record a soundbite off youtube how would I do it. I need step by step.Thank you,Adam

I am not a MAC user - but I seem to remember from various postings from Kozikowski that it is difficult to record streaming audio with MACs. He usually recommends a piece of Software called WireTap. You can use WireTap to do the recording and then move to Audacity for the editing.

(This seems to come up a lot. I posted an entry on this last November, which I've copied and pasted here. I hope it helps...let me know!)

You could try downloading Soundflower, a freeware app that allows you to route audio between applications that don't normally "speak" to each other. I also own and use Wiretap Studio, but I like some of the effects available in Audacity's editor that are unavailable in Wiretap Studio, (i.e., cut, copy, paste, and reverse, among others), so I also use Audacity. Although I could simply import audio files recorded with Wiretap Studio into Audacity, I kept seeing references to Soundflower on the web and I was intrigued...I WANTED to be able to record streaming audio with Audacity if I chose to do so. I could already record vinyl lps in Audacity through my line-in port, and this would just add more functionality. I even saw Soundflower referenced on Audacity's Wiki page discussing issues pertinent to Mac users. See:

"No built-in streaming audio recording

Applies to: All Audacity versionsMacs almost always have no ability to record streaming audio internally off the built-in audio device. You could use Audio Hijack or Wiretap instead, which will capture the audio to AIFF files directly from the player application. Turn off compression in Wiretap Preferences if you want to import the recorded AIFF files into Audacity.

Alternatively if you are on OS X 10.2 and later you can use the free open source Soundflower system extension, on which Audio Hijack is based, too. Soundflower behaves like an additional system audio device, so for example to record streaming audio into Audacity you would select Soundflower as the output device in the application in which you are playing sound, and Soundflower as the input device on the Audio I/O tab of Audacity Preferences. If the application playing the sound does not allow you to specify its output device, you can make Soundflower the default output device in Apple Audio-MIDI Setup."

So, if you'd like, download Soundflower and install it. You won't see a window pane open up, but you should see a little flower icon in your menu bar. (If you want this to always be on, add it to your log-in items, otherwise, you'll have to open Soundflower every time you reboot.) You should probably make Soundflower your default system audio device. For easy switching, download a free app from Rogue Amoeba called Soundsource. It will appear as a little set of headphones in your menu bar. You can easily switch your input and output devices here. You should select "Soundflower 2ch" as your input device in the Soundsource menu.

Then, when you open Audacity's preferences, you'll have a choice to select your "recording" device as not just "built in line input" or "built in digital input" but also "Soundflower 2ch." (You can leave your output device as "built in line output.") When you want to record internet radio or other streaming audio, go to Soundsource and switch your system output device from "Line Out" to "Soundflower 2ch." Audacity should be able to "hear" and thus record any streaming audio coming through the system. When done, I like to go to Soundsource and switch system output back to "line out," simply because it allows me to adjust the system volume manually using the sliders and the keyboard; when the system output is selected as "Soundflower 2ch," you can't do this.

This may all seem complicated, as it did to me when I was reading about it, but it's really pretty easy once you try it. (Believe me, I am not techie, so if I can do this, you should be able to.)

Robert1014 - Does this allow you to start and stop the internet audio and speak over it, or do you need to switch the inputs every time? I record an audio podcast and would like to play clips from youtube and other sites and be able to comment on them, during them.

Honestly, I don't know, as I've never tried to do anything like this. However, Audacity does allow for multitrack recording, so even if one cannot do what you describe all in one go, (and it may, give it a try!), one can still record the streaming internet content using Audacity w/Soundflower (and Soundsource, not necessary, but helpful in switching input and output sources quickly and easily). After the streaming content is recorded on one track, you could record your own commentary track separately on another track. As I don't know whether you can hear the track that's playing as you're recording over it, you could draft your comments in script form and record them cold, then use the "Timeshift" tool in Audacity to move them back and forth until they're placed where you like, relative to the already recorded audio material they're meant to supplement and comment on. Then, on playback, you'll hear the original streamed internet content you recorded with your own comments interpolated where you want them to be.

And read over their Wiki page...that's where I found the information I posted above about using Soundflower with Audacity. There's lots of information available on Audacity's web resources.

Obviously, there is software out there that will allow you to do this or even more ambitious things more readily, perhaps, than Audacity, but they cost money. One such is the new Wiretap Anywhere, which costs $129.00. Audacity is free and thus may not offer every bell and whistle one would prefer, but if "free" is the right price, then I think one can do pretty much anything with Audacity, just using a bit of ingenuity and effort and time. Good luck!

Robert, I followed your directions and successfully recorded sound playing off my internet browser using audacity. (Mac)My only issue is, the way I was doing it using the Soundsource settings, is that I was unable to hear it while it was playing. I think I am making a mistake with settings. I should be able to hear it and record it all at the same time right?John

Soundflower is difficult to use. It's top features are that it's cheap, inexpensive, and doesn't cost anything. I tried it and found, yes, I could eventually force it to work. Because of what it does, it makes Mac sound services temporarily as unstable as Windows services are all the time. I took it off.

My license of WireTap is so much better and easier to use. It has a scheduler, too, which I rarely use. It always seems to open up the right pathways when I need them, lets me hear the work, saves a good sound file, and it's never failed.

<<<Does this allow you to start and stop the internet audio and speak over it, or do you need to switch the inputs every time? I record an audio podcast and would like to play clips from youtube and other sites and be able to comment on them, during them.>>>

No. Audacity is a really simple audio program and the only thing it does in real time is capture. Nobody has argued with me yet that the best way to do this is two computers. One does all the playback, streaming, stringers, clips, and themes. That feeds the tiny mixer along with one or many microphones (you always graduate to two or more microphones) and the whole thing goes into Audacity on the second computer for capture. The mixer gives you a place to plug in your headphones to listen to the combined show.